Travels, travails, and stories in Korea and elsewhere — "Been inclined to wander / Off the beaten track …. I've held my licence / It came with birth / For self reliance on this earth" – Judas Priest, "Grinder"

Monthly Archives: June 2013

I shared this article with a few friends and asked them for their thoughts. A female pen pal named Adonia in the USA wrote back with the letter below. She mentions how she enjoys how female characters like Catwoman show their power by being sexy. It’s a point that’s lost amid the debate over how women are portrayed in this genre. She goes on to note how “Fake Geek Girls” and how they know next to nothing about the characters they like or the genre they enjoy playing. She is, in essence, talking about posers. Posers are the problem here: Those who show up thinking they know it all, but really don’t. The ones who are doing it for the attention. Nowadays it’s the popular thing for a woman to call herself a “Girl gamer” and barge in demanding extra special care about her opinions on games and gaming. Read and enjoy…

Thank you for sharing this.

Everyone (some) who goes to look into my profile would know of my hobbies that I enjoy very much.

In all honesty, I don’t want feminists to change any images to something that I enjoy and many others who enjoy.

The sexualized of many female characters shows their power by being very sexy besides being superhuman. I love Catwoman. I love how Batman gets weak in the knees with her skin tight cat suit and whip. To change that, would lose all meaning.

As for video games, the Legend of Zelda comes to mind. Link always has always had to rescue Princess Zelda (except for a couple games he didn’t had have to such as Majora’s Mask). The whole point of the game is to go through many trials to save the Princess and I enjoy it very much.

I had to face everyday, fake geek girls. I have to see all these girls bragging about dressing in Cosplay but don’t know the life story of their character they’re portraying. I have to deal with girls who said they play Battle Field or Call of Duty considered themselves ‘Gamer Girls’ but never heard of Shinobi or Onimusha nor heard of any Classic Video Games. I have to deal with girls wearing these stupid ‘nerd’ glasses and call themselves Nerds. I have to deal with girls wearing superhero shirts but do not know the differences or which Superhero belongs either Marvel or DC. To me, these girls are fake just for guys to like them.

I do not want to see any changes nor do I care what if they feel offended because these characters (purely fictional characters) are too sexy. If they do not like it, they can stop reading, playing video games or anything the deals with the Geek/Nerd culture. Leave my shit alone!

Here are two articles from one Alyssa Rosenberg in Slate. The first is about how there is no such thing as “fake geek girls”. The second advocates feminists in science fiction push their ideology on the SFWA and push out and censoring established male SF writers.

Of course, Alyssa sees no contradiction between these two asserations; in fact, linking to the former article in the latter.

As someone who enjoys SF, among a variety of other nerdy hobbies, I would like to comment on this.

I have no problem with women writing SF, reading SF, or participating in any other nerdy activities. I also have no problem with women who participate in some nerdy activities and not others, for whatever reasons. There’s nothing wrong with a girl (or a guy) who likes Dr. Who, but doesn’t like D&D.

Korea has some interesting fashion choices. Some of it is very cool and unique, while some things are almost unexplainable. One fashion trend here is something we like to call “Couples Clothing.”

While walking around in Korea, it is extremely common to see a boyfriend and girlfriend wearing the same exact outfit. It’s some sort of expression that they are together, kind of like a friendship bracelet on steroids. Alli and I do not need to go far in the big cities like Seoul or Busan to see this strange phenomenon in action.

The outfits can range from subtle things like the same shirt or shoes, to the same style with a color swap like old school Mortal Kombat (bonus points if you get that reference), to perfectly identical from head to toe like they are in some type of cult. We’ve even see women who’ve managed to find dresses…

Via Korea beat me to it. The Joongang Daily ran a similar article yesterday and I was planning on posting about it.

As a 2 year veteran, I can attest to it. My kids spend every waking moment on staring at their little plastic screens. Their addictions to text messages and games have made the already slow Korean way of walking even slower. Now they putz about with a phone in front of them because they can’t bear to miss their dramas, baseball games, or side scrollers.

…and now know what all the fuss is about. While long, the book justifies its length by offering extensive studies in power and motivation. It’s as much the story of Roark and individualism as it is about Toohey and his power-building. I’ll be posting more notes about the book in the following days. It has given me plenty to think about.

As a prelude to the upcoming posts:

The guys in the old punk group Code of Honor may not have liked Roark, but they certainly identified with his worldview. Witness their song “Code of Honor” and its lyrics about being “your own advisor” and keeping “your own counsel.” Did Roark do both of those things? You bet. Did he maintain that his “self determination and his honor are more important than [his] immediate life”? Considering that he dynamites the building–his building– that Keating and co botched and stands trial for it, yes. He staked his reputation on everything he built and never once tried to justify himself. Him and political punkers have plenty in common. More to come later.

First–“Kind of rapey”? Dammit, if there’s one thing I loathe, it’s flabby and unspecific language. I’m sick of hearing “Kind of” and “sort of” and having “y/-ey” appended to words. Either we call it what it is or we dance around the issue. Robin Thicke’s song’s about a dude whose girl’s giving him the IOIs. He’s going to make his move and take her. It’s not a new subject for a pop song, especially and R&B one.<br><br>

So what if the song makes you “uncomfortable”? Reader-response criticism has done great things for getting students and adults alike to talk about their feelings toward texts, but it’s also made every subjective opinion as valid and monolithic as anyone else’s. If someone feels the song’s bad or it makes him uncomfortable, fine. That’s one opinion. But that’s all it is: An opinion. <br><br>

Watch the video and enjoy the tune. It’s a fun one. It may not be fun for the whole family, but it’s grooving and salacious all the same. Danny’s right in his analysis of the words, too.

since i dropped a repost that most of you have already read, i decided to put up a crispy fresh post. enjoy.

this song rocks a fat ass. always kinda dug robin thicke. add to it the fact that he has a version featuring 3 topless models….obvious NSFW. the NSFW link is at the bottom, the first video is SFW.

song’s sick. he’s totally owning the sexual side of her. it’s everything i try to instill in guys: own the frame, be flirty, fun and never shy away from the sexual side. i’d LOVE to hear a woman reading this blog say she’s offended by this song. this is now my pre game song.

notice the “good girl” reference. lol. how many times have i brought this line up. and no shit- the brunette in the video looks just like my bartender ex lyssia. let’s look at the lyrics (emphasis…

American culture 101, everyone. ICP isn’t a group, it’s a lifestyle; for there is no such thing as a casual fan of the holy Posse. Liking them means tithing every available dollar to stuff adorned with The Hatchet Man. It also means referencing them in every conversation and drinking Faygo by the 2-liter.

Thank you, Via Korea for reminding me (and surely, many others) that this stuff still exists. I’d forgotten it until now. ICP’s not something fit for exporting. And even though I’ve had the privilege of shooting pool with some cool Juggalos over the years, they’re among the strangest of the ESL-teaching expats over here.

As a side note, look forward to more reblogs from Via Korea, for we happen to agree on many things about Korea and he writes with style.

These are handbills for Dokdo Island. The Hangeul characters translate to “Dokdo is our land.”

I don’t teach elementary school, but I’ve seen plenty of Dokdo politicking at the secondary level. Few things rile the kids up like Dokdo and the East Sea (aka the Sea of Japan) because it allows a few of them to whinge about the Japanese being monkeys. I’m loathe to step into their affairs, but I shut down the monkey talk whenever it comes up because of its blatant racism. America had problems enough with calling certain minorities monkeys and there’s no need to see history repeat itself.